ZimSkillet and Good People …

 

One visit and I knew these were good people.

Highway 142 has a pretty stretch in Georgia between Covington and Eatonton.  It’s also a shortcut to The Cabin which means it’s a valuable find.  A welder friend who knows the area revealed the shortcut through back roads that saves four miles each way.

Whether going or coming from The Cabin, this stretch of highway is rolling relaxation that passes through two small towns, Newborn and Shady Dale.  Shady Dale is just a four-way stop where the boiled peanut man is the town’s second-largest business.  Robby and Cindy’s restaurant, located in an old gas station, is the largest based on the popularity of its burgers and fries.

But, this is about Newborn, a town that looks out for its own, and the Zimmermans, a family that believes in giving back.

You actually could cruise straight through Newborn without stopping as long as you slow down where the law enforcement vehicle is parked.  That vehicle stays in its parking spot for months at a time – spider webs prove it – so it’s a decoy.  But you really don’t want to speed in Newborn anyway.  You might miss the town’s newest enterprise – ZimSkillet.  A little background . . .

I’ve slowed down through this town for many years, passing the pretty white church beyond the railroad tracks, the taxidermy place at the somewhat main intersection, and the gas station and manual car wash next to Lucy’s Wings.  And, I had noticed a small breakfast spot, the Biscuit Shack, but rarely saw any cars or customers there.  It was closed every time I wanted to stop for a biscuit or whatever.  I wondered how it stayed in business or if it even wanted to.

Then one day while crawling 25 in the 35 speed zone, I noticed some activity on the grounds of the Biscuit Shack.  A big, black smoker grill was out front, and the miniature shack, no bigger than a matchbox, was getting a significant touch-up.  A couple of weeks later, a shelter was being built over the smoker, and a homemade sign was advertising barbecue, tenderloins and other items.  The finishing touch was a simple street sign with the odd, new name:  ZimSkillet.

The Biscuit Shack had been transformed into ZimSkillet, and it was open for breakfast and lunch and by-the-pound BBQ.  One u-turn later and I was squeezing in the front door.  The inside was bigger than it looked from the road, even had some tables for customer seating, and it was the proverbial beehive of activity.  The kitchen area was about the size of a telephone booth (remember those?), and four people behind the counter were bumping elbows and loving every minute of it while preparing orders for customers.  Everybody was smiling and laughing and having fun.  While working no less.

The lady taking my order could tell I was a first-timer to ZimSkillet – surely a city-slicker with white tennis shoes and creased slacks and, no doubt, not one of the 749 Newborn residents.  While helping with every detail of the menu, this lady also called every local by name as they entered.  And, she smiled.  All the time.  Like everybody in the place. Something special seemed to be going on in ZimSkillet, and I was getting more curious by the minute.  Plus, what was with this ZimSkillet name anyway?

A few minutes later, I enjoyed the best tenderloin sandwich of my life while sitting in my vehicle and watching two guys at the smoker grill as the parking lot filled with customers.  The two guys doing the grilling were laughing and obviously enjoying their role in all of this.  I was nosy.

“So, tell me about ZimSkillet,” I said to the older of the two at the grill.

“I’d love to,” said Paul Zimmerman, who temporarily delegated the cooking to his son Joe so he could share his story.  And soon I knew why this place was so special.

The Zimmerman clan – Paul, his wife Laura and their six children – moved to Newborn in 1996.  The couple built their own home “with our own four hands” off Pitts Chapel Road.  Paul was in medical sales and Laura home-schooled their children.  Life was good until just before Christmas 2010.  That’s when their house and all of their possessions burned completely to the ground.  “All of our Christmas presents were already bought . . . first time we had ever done that early,”  Paul reminisced.  “We lost everything.”

Everything, that is, except for a few of his collection of cast iron skillets.  Having been involved in youth sports teams with his children, Paul often provided food at team gatherings.  Food prepared outside like smoked ribs, tenderloins, burgers, hot dogs.  He loved doing it.

“We had nothing after the fire,” Paul continued, “but the people of Newborn brought us everything we needed.  Bags of clothes, food, toys, shoes, jackets – I still have the Carhartt jacket somebody brought; it’s my favorite now.  The Newborn people were unbelievable.  They provided all we needed.”

The twists and turns in life continued.  The Zimmermans eventually were able to rebuild their home – “this time with a contractor rather than our own hands” – after winning a battle with their insurance company and a representative from big-city Boston who learned quite a lesson in big-hearted Newborn.  And, to boot, Paul’s medical sales team was eliminated, leading to a somewhat frustrating job search.

“But this was always a dream,” Paul said, motioning back to the smoker, the parking lot and restaurant.  The Zimmermans bought the Biscuit Shack from Pat Jarvis, a former pitcher for the Atlanta Braves who was gone more than he was in Newborn.  And, they began to follow their dream.  “It’s my way of paying back the community,” Paul said.  “The people of Newborn took care of us.  This helps us give back to them.”

So, with his family, his dream, his skillets and a smile, Paul launched ZimSkillet.  Like the cast iron skillets, the Zimmermans have survived the devastating fire and more.  And the town of Newborn is better for it.

The ZimSkillet menu surely will put some weight on this city slicker traveling on Highway 142 to and from The Cabin.  Whether it’s a breakfast of the Loaded Dough Biscuit or a lunch of the pork tenderloin sandwich or a pound of BBQ to be warmed at The Cabin, this place will always leave a good taste in your mouth – in more ways than one.

One visit and I knew these were good people.